Sürgün (2010) - European Union Prize for Literature
Transkript
Sürgün (2010) - European Union Prize for Literature
2011 Çiler İlhan – Turkey Sürgün (2010) Exile Publishing House Everest Yayınları © Senol Altun Biography Born in 1972, Çiler İlhan studied International Relations and Political Science at Bosphorus University and then hotel management at the Glion Hotel School in Switzerland. Having worked as a hotelier, a freelance writer (Boğaziçi, Time Out İstanbul, etc.) and an editor (Chat, Travel+Leisure) at different periods of her life, İlhan, based in İstanbul, now works as the public relations manager of the Çırağan Palace Kempinski hotel. In 1993, she received a prestigious youth award for a short story. The award was a tribute to the memory of Yaşar Nabi, a leading publisher and writer. Ilhan’s stories, essays, book reviews, travel articles and translations into Turkish have been published in a variety of journals and newspaper supplements. Synopsis The stories in Exile are monologues by a variety of real-life and fictional characters. Ilhan has a wide-ranging and deep understanding of human experience and suffering, and she is capable of expressing the multi-faceted realities of life strikingly and plainly, sensitive to its pains and injustices. Her literary approach is in harmony with Einstein’s aphorism: “A formula should be as simple as possible, but not simpler”. The fact that the monologues constitute a relatively connected whole is another positive aspect of Exile. The succinct monologues form a polylogue. This is a short story collection that has the taste of a novel. Sürgün Çiler İlhan 5 Numara Ben, Han. Anne karnında öldürülmeye çalışılmış biri için ironik bir isim olduğunu kabul etmeliyim. Olay şu: Annemle babam Temiz Gen Programı’nın üyesiymişler. Program dahilinde, annemin rahmine düştüğüm anlaşılır anlaşılmaz testlerim yapılmış. Alet sinyal vermemiş. Herkes mutlu: “Beşinci dölünüz temizdir, buyrun doğurun.” Ama kandırdım sizi he heyt kandırdım! Hamilelik çok sakin geçti; mahsus yaptım. Çıt çıkarmadım içeride şüphe çekmemek için… Ne tek bir bulantı verdim anneme, ne uykusuz tek bir saat… Hatta o iyice rahat etsin diye büyümedim bile doğru dürüst. Aman ne mutluydu annem, ne mutluydu herkes… E, temiz gen. Bu temiz genlerin hali bir başka oluyor, iyi ki yazıldık bu programa. Bak Ayşe’ye, yazık ne çok gazı var. Bekledim. Aslına bakarsanız epey bekledim; epey bekledim en azından… Zannettim ki dokuz aya kadar beklersem artık ne olursa olsun çıkmam garantidir. Ne de olsa artık resmi olarak insan sayılırım! Dokuzuncu ayın sonunda ellerim biraz fazla büyümüştü ve ben annemin karnı fazla şişmesin diye onları yumruk yapmaktan yorulmuştum; birazcık açıverdim. Öyle tümü tümü değil ha, birazcık rahatlamak için, azıcık. Aman sen misin bunu yapan! Bir eli yağda bir eli 2 The European Union Prize for Literature 2011 Çiler İlhan balda, prensesler gibi, raprahat bir hamilelik geçiren annem karnında ufacık bir sızı duyar duymaz doktora koştu. Beyaz gömlekliler, pek severler böyle şeyleri ahkâm kesmeye doyamazlar, bir çırpıda toplandılar. Geni temizlenmiş bir bebeğin rahatsızlık vermesi! Olacak şey değil! Beyaz gömlekliler şüphelendi. Hayır dediler, hayır. Bu işte bir yanlışlık var. Hemen o meşhur alet getirildi, karın dinlenildi, gizli gizli bakışıldı, açık açık konuşuldu: Korkunç bir hata olmuş. Milyonda bir görülecek cinsten. Aletin sinyal vermesinden de anlamışsınızdır; bebeğinizin geni temiz değil! Annem o koca karnıyla köpürdü! Böyle şey nasıl olur! Çuvalla para döktüm ben bu programa! Çok üzgünüz hanfendi, paranız hemen iade edilecektir. Saatlerce dil döktüler ama ben bebek güdüsüyle anladım ki anneme göre tek çare, ikimizden de kurtulmak. Hem uğraşamaz bozuk genli bir bebekle, çok iş; hem de iş yerinde bebeği bozuk çıkmış tek kadın yok. Ama ölmedim işte. Ölmedim. Hava-ambulans köprünün ayağına ulaştığında annem son nefesini çoktan vermişti. Mavi gömlekliler hemen oracıkta annemin karnını açıp çıkarıverdiler içindekini. Beni… Kör ama capcanlı. The European Union Prize for Literature 2011 3 Exile Çiler İlhan Translated from the Turkish by Ayşegül Toroser Ateş & Nuri Ateş. Number 5 I’m Khan. I must admit it’s an ironic name for someone whose life was nearly taken in his mother’s womb. Here is what happened: Apparently my mother and father were members of the Gene Purging Programme. Under the programme, my gene tests were carried out as soon as it was understood that I had been conceived. The device did not give out a signal. Everyone was happy: “Your fifth seed is pure, there, you may give birth.” But I fooled you, there! I did. The pregnancy passed unperturbed; I did it on purpose. I didn’t make the slightest noise in there so that I wouldn’t cause any suspicion… I caused my mother neither a single bout of nausea nor a single sleepless hour… In fact, I didn’t even grow properly so that she would be totally comfortable. Oh, how happy my mother was, how happy everyone was… Well, a pure gene. These pure genes are something, good thing we joined this programme. Look at Ayşe, poor woman, how flatulent she is. 4 The European Union Prize for Literature 2011 Çiler İlhan I waited. To tell you the truth, I waited quite a long time; I waited for quite a long time, at least… I thought that if I waited for nine months I would be sure to get out no matter what. After all, by then I was officially considered a human being! By the end of the ninth month my hands were slightly overgrown, and I was tired of making them into fists so that my mother’s belly would not swell too much; I loosened them a little bit. Not altogether, mind you, just a little bit, just to get a little bit comfortable. If only I hadn’t done that! My mother, whose pregnancy was passing so easily, as if she were a princess, having felt the slightest discomfort in her belly ran off to the doctor, ordering my father over the phone to “Come quickly”. The white-shirts, they love pontificating on such matters, they can’t have enough, they got together at once. That a baby with purged genes should cause discomfort! Impossible! The white-shirts got suspicious. No, they said, no. There is something wrong here. That famous device was brought in straight away, the belly was listened to, glances were exchanged secretly, words were exchanged openly: There has been a terrible mistake. A one-in-a-million kind of thing. You must have understood by the fact that the device gave out a signal; your baby’s genes are not pure! My mother was furious, with that huge belly of hers! How could such a thing happen! I spent a bagful of money for this programme! We are very sorry, madam, you will get a refund immediately. They went on coaxing her for hours to no avail; my mother would have none of it… While she was storming at the doctors I suddenly realized that my father had already slipped away! That’s what he does, my father gets lost whenever things get The European Union Prize for Literature 2011 5 Exile messy, that is my observation of nine months… When my mother finally realised the absence of my father she jumped into her car in a panic, naturally she did not listen to the doctors’ orders about not driving… She’s both driving and calling my father on her mobile… but there is no answer. Now she cannot stand that, she cannot stand my father ignoring her… It’s not because she adores her husband, it’s because of her keen concern for her reputation! “Honey,” she often tells her friends, “I cannot remember a single night when we did not sleep close together, hand in hand, all these years we have not had a serious argument or disagreement.” There is bound to be no disagreement if you keep being such a witch! But this time she’s in deep trouble; the baby is flawed, the husband is gone, she’s disgraced before workmates… She is actually quite delicate, but was it her hormones or what, after all she is pregnant, even I couldn’t predict it, whereas my baby’s instincts are very powerful, in the blink of an eye should she not drive the car towards a cliff! I do not know whether she was angrier with me or with herself. But her plan didn’t work, I didn’t die! I didn’t! By the time the air-ambulance arrived my mother had already breathed her last breath. The blue-shirts immediately opened up my mother’s belly there and then and took out what was inside. Me… Blind but full of life. 6 The European Union Prize for Literature 2011 2011 Çiler İlhan – Turkey Sürgün Exile 130 pp, 2010 Translations: The book has not been translated yet. (Last Update – September 2011) Publishing House Everest Yayınları Ticarethane Sok. No: 53 Cağaloğlu – İSTANBUL Tel. (90) 212 513 34 20 21 – Fax. (90) 212 512 33 76 – www.everestyayinlari.com Contact: everest@alfakitap.com ISBN: 975-289-678-9 EUPL / FEP-FEE – Rue Montoyer, 31 – B-1000 Brussels – T. +32 (0)2 770.11.10 info@fep-fee.eu – www.euprizeliterature.eu